Sheriff outlines staffing and jail footprint; treasurer reports backlog, bank moves, and online tax-lien sale

In department updates at the Jan. 7 Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meeting, the sheriff and the county treasurer detailed staffing levels, operational constraints and administrative changes intended to speed financial processing.

The sheriff’s office described the agency’s structure and staffing. The sheriff said the county has 40 authorized sworn deputy positions and 38 deputies currently on board, covering patrol, detectives and command staff. He said roughly half of the county building is occupied by the jail and that the sheriff’s office occupies about 30% of the facility. Detention staffing authorizations and on-board counts given were: detention officers authorized 34 with 30 on board; booking clerks authorized 8 with 5 on board; dispatch authorized 11 with vacancies. The sheriff said the office seeks grant funding whenever possible to support patrol, dispatch and other operations and invited supervisors to tour the jail and dispatch center for a fuller briefing.

Treasurer’s office updates The treasurer reported several administrative changes and processing details intended to reduce delays in tax and other county payments. Key points reported by the treasurer: - Staffing and processing: The office received more than 30,000 mailed checks and has processed check payments received through Dec. 28, 2024; credit-card payments had been processed through Dec. 18, 2024. The treasurer said the office relied on two temporary employees to reduce backlog. - Bank and custody transitions: The county is transitioning deposit operations from JPMorgan to PNC Bank and expected to complete testing and the switch in February or March 2025. The county moved its savings provider to Western Alliance to earn higher interest and transferred more than $15,000,000 of custody assets from UBS to Principal (principal custody) during the reported week. - Equipment and process changes: The treasurer said the office has ordered check scanners and installed a SafePoint machine (an automated cash-deposit device) to speed deposits. These changes are intended to allow deposit processing in-house and reduce delays. - Tax-lien sale and system change: The treasurer said the 2025 tax-lien sale will move online via realauction.com on Feb. 13, 2025, and that the office expects to implement a new treasurer system (CW Harris) with an April 7, 2025, target date for going live. - Receipts and controls: The treasurer said the office has changed the receipt process and is requiring participating entities to provide treasurer’s receipts. Entities that decline to participate will be asked to sign indemnification forms. The treasurer also said a new internal check log and three-person workflow for issuing checks has been implemented to improve controls.

Why it matters Staffing levels in public safety and improvements in treasurer operations affect the county’s ability to respond to calls, operate the jail and process tax and other payments. The treasurer’s bank and custody transitions and move to an online tax-lien sale are administrative changes intended to improve efficiency and increase interest income on county savings.

What was said Sheriff (name not specified): "We have 40 authorized sworn deputy positions and that includes our detectives and our patrol officers and the command staff as well. Right now we have 38 on board and we're down 2."

Treasurer (name not specified): "For check payments, we are all done up until the Dec. 28th. So anything that we have received up to Dec. 28th has been processed as far as check payments. Any credit card payments, we are currently working on Dec. 18th."

Next steps The treasurer will continue bank testing with PNC and proceed toward the February–March transition window; the office will publish instructions for the Feb. 13 online tax-lien sale on the treasurer’s website. The sheriff offered to provide more detailed presentations about specific divisions (jail, CID, patrol, dispatch) at future meetings.